Buying a flat above a takeaway!?

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Hi everyone. We're currently looking for a new home and there's a beautiful flat available close to where we currently live. It's stunning inside but it's above a pizza/kebab takeaway shop! Has anyone else looked at properties like this before or lived in one? Even though it's beautiful and we get that lovely homely feel from it we're worried. It's shared freehold, and we're worried about fire hazards etc. we've been in and there was no smells or anything. we're mainly worried about it being shared and the fire issue, the aesthetic of it obviously isn't great either but it's got many pros as well as in space inside and location. Just want some opinions :) thank you!

What are the shops opening hours?

I wouldn’t,

It will stink.

Free heating

Hi, it's 12-11pm!

We all thought this but we've been in twice and there's no smell at all!

Do I wouldn’t, the noise, smells, and just general over the shop feel would turn me off. That and it would be to easy to pop downstairs every meal time

God. It depends. With a family, no way. As a childless couple, why not.

I’d dread the weekends and the drunks coming for a kebab before going home.

I’d also spend a fortune on takeaway 😂

I wouldn’t I’d be worried about noisy / drunk customers at odd hours. The smell/ noise from the extractor fans ( did you check round the back when it was open?) Also potential fire hazards

Do you like the sound of Just Eat / Uber eats mopeds?

There will be lots of them.

we went with Dc to View 1 it did just smell of chipshop they decided it wasn't worth it. the flat is near by its .been up for sale bought then tolet 3 times.since then.

1. can you even get a mortgage for it? Many lenders will NOT touch a house or flat above a commercial property premise of any type

2. what does insurance look like? Could be a huge price due to increased risk of fire.

3. noise from fans is huge. Don't underestimate it.

4. whilst it's a takeaway now, they could turn it into a restaurant at any time and increase the noise.

5. I'll never do it again. Rats from the waste outside at the back. Noise when closed as they used it as a party venue for staff....

Have you visited the flat when the shop is busy?

It could be noisy, smells drifting up, what are they like with their rubbish? (One takeaway near us leaves big veg oil cans at the back for months and rats love the bits of food from.their bins).
Are there lots of drunk customers? Lots of Deliveroo motorbikes?

In summer and you want windows open will it be more noise and smells?

Drunks in there at night being lairy. Trouble outside. Noise. Endless cars pulling up outside doing Deliveroo. Smells. Grease. Rats. Cockroaches. Constant problems with the drains. Fatbergs. Nope.

I was going to say point 1.

No I wouldn’t. My first (shared) flat was one door along from being above a burger place. Constant aggro right below the front room window around kicking out time at weekends as fights broke out. I guess it depends on the area but this was in a pretty average town.

Hi everyone thank you so much for the replies it's appreciated because we're in two minds about it. We would be buying it out right so no mortgage but in saying that hard to sell in the future. We thought about maybe renting it out if circumstances allow but don't know if this would be allowed. They keep very tidy around the back (for now!) definitely could be an issue for deliveries however it is on a main road anyway :/ it's such a shame because it's beautiful inside

Aww no way, imagine trying to resell in future.

We lived in London flat above a stationary shop, but 2 doors along was a kebab shop. There was a bus stop outside our window, so drunk people would sit on the seat eating their kebab, chatting loudly about their night, swearing and sometimes continuing to drink! The delivery moped people would stand outside chatting also, then the constant beep beep of their mopeds. It drove me absolutely nuts. The shop applied to have a later license till I think 2am. It got rejected, and a month later had a massive fire!

DH was convinced that our home insurance would have been much more if directly above a place which cooked hot food- due to the added risk of fire. I don't know how true this is though? I would keep looking I'm afraid.

I lived above a Chinese restaurant as a student. There wasn’t a smell when you initially walked in but you couldn’t put bottles of drink on the floor as they’d pick up an awful greasy Chinese smell/taste

Id avoid

Just as you are questioning whether you should buy it others will do the same when you come to sell.

Look elsewhere.

I've lived above a chicken shop, it was fine.

The problem is you can’t second guess what it could be like in the future
could be sold hours extended
it a commercial premises so could be turned into different type of business

too many unknowns

When I was renting, I lived above a newsagents which then for some reason introduced a meat counter and rebranded, which was next door to a takeaway. The fly/maggot situation from the bins was a nightmare, and at least once a month you got a dramatic fight outside the takeaway on a Friday or Saturday night....

I would suggest that you drive round there and hang around for a bit between 11pm and 1am Saturday night and see what it's like.

My dad had a lovely flat above a kebab shop - I was always pleasantly surprised when I stayed there at how it never smelt! It was a popular kebab shop but there was never any excessive noise. (I'm sure there can be at some though!) my dad also qa loves being able to nip downstairs for a kebab 😂